Refrigerating tank or vessel



D. FERNALD.

REFRIGERATING TANK 0R VESSEL- APPLICATION FILED 050.10, 1918.

1,412,802 Patented Apr. 111., 1922.

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DANA FERNALD, 01? ZJEJJ' YORK,I I. Y., ASSIGNOE T0 PEREZ Iii. STEVJART, TRUSTEE, 02 PASADEK'A, CALIFORNIA.

REFRIGERATING TANK OR VESSEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 11922.

Application filed December 10, 1918. Serial No. 266,155.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l. DANA FnnNALo, a citizen of the "i? 7 ci county, and State of Flow York, have invented Improvement in l'letrigerating Tanks or Vessels, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specilication, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a waterprooi or liquid tight tank or vessel, and particularly to tanks or vessels of this character which are oi large size or capacity.

The invention is especially designed and adapt-ed to be embodied in large size freezing or refrigerating tanks, which are employed in artificial refrigeration and commonly known as brine tanks.

As now commonly constructed and known to me, tanks of t ie character. described are usually made of steel plates brought into the room, in which the tank is to be erected, in small sections and riveted together in a position more than two feet above the floor on which it is finally to stand. After being tested for leaks in this position is raised oil its temporary supports and li' wered into its final position. The spaces-between the sides of the tank and the walls of the room,

usually seven inches all around, are then filled in with cork or other heat insulating material. Tanks thus made are expensive, difficult to construct and assemble and in the process of lowering into place are subject to strains, which are liable to start rivets and develop leaks, which become known only after the steel tank are in position, and which leaks permit access of the liquid to the cork or other insulating material, with the result that the insulating value of the latter is seriously impaired.

The present invention has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive and highly ellicient retrigcnting tank of large capacity, which is free from the objectionable features above referred to. v

To this end, the tank or vessel, which may be of any suitable construction, such as wood, metal, concrete, or other nonmetallic material of the proper strength, is provided with a waterproof lining or mcnn brane. having up"ght sections composed or reinforced waterproof fibrous material, which are mechanically supported t their nited States, residing in the upper ends above the level of the brine or other liquid in the tank, so as to relieve the fibrous layers from weight and strain and avoid piercing the lining below the normal water level by rasteaing devices, whereby leakage and rupture of the fibrous lining is avoided and a durable and eliicient waterprooitank of large capacity is produced at a mmlmum expense and with. a minimum of labor,

These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in the claims at'the end of this specification.

Fig. 1 represents in vertical section one form of refrigeratin tank embodying this invention.

Fig. 2, a detail on an enlarged scale to show more clearly the construction of the waterproof lining membrane preferred by me and shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3, a detail in elevation on an enlarge scale to illustrate the method of huildingup the lining or membrane member preferred by me.

Referring to the drawing, or, represents the upright walls of a tank or vessel of large size or capacity and such as now commonly used in artificial refrigerating plants, and b the bottom of said tank or vessel. The tank or vessel may be square, oblong or other suitable shape, and in large plants these tanks are usually about twenty-five feet wide and seventy feet long, and are designed to .containbrine and the coil of pipes through which the refrigerant such as ammonia is circulated, said brine and pipes being omitted from the drawing as they are not necessary for full understanding of the invention.

The upright walls a of the tank are represented as made of brick and the bottom 6 of concrete, but they may be made of wood, metal or other vsuitable material.

In accordance with this invention the tank or vessel is provided with a waterproof lining or membrane, which is represented by the heavy black line 0 in Fig. 1. The lining or membrane 0 is composed of upright sections 10 and a bottom section 12, and said upright sections 10 are composed "for the best results or" a plurality of layers of fibrous material preferably felt or fabric, which layers are adhesively ailixed together, waterproofed and reenforced, and mechanically suspended from their upper ends by sented as alayer 17 of wiremesh, and layers 18- of Waterproofing material, such as liquid asphalt, pitch or other bituminous ma- 15 te'rial. The upright sections 10 ofthelinin-g or membrane are supported at or near their upper ends above the level of the liquid'inthe tank: by mechanical means, which cooperates with the reenforcement 17to sustain the Weightv of said upright sections, avoid puncturing the lining below the liquid level and relieve the fibrous layers from strain, so that the latter are not liable to be -weakened to such extent as to develop leaks.

Inthe presentinstance, I have illustrated one means for mechanically supporting the uprightsections, Which consists of a series of bolts 20' extended through the reen-forcement 17 and a bar-21 which engages the" outer layer of fibrous material and is secured in fixed relation to the upright Walls-a bythe bolts 20, so as to clamp the upright'sections 10 to said Walls. The clamping bar :21 may and preferably W11] be made as an angle'ba'r when a heat 1nsulat1ng layer of corkor other suitable material 23 is interposed between the upright Walls-a the uprightseetions 10' of the lin-in'gor membrane, and in this case the horizontal member 2 10f the clamp:- ing bar may be used, as a supportfor the cover 25 of the tank. v

The bottom section: 12 01? the lining may be composed of reenforced fibrous layers like the upright sections, as for instance, when the ground forms the bottom of thetank, but in those cases where the bottom of the tank is made solid or stable it is not necessary to make the bottom of the lining of reenforced fabric for its entire area, as the reenforced fabric comprising the upright sections 10 may be made long enough .to form the portion of the bottom adjacent to the upright sections, as for instance, for the distance of one or two. feet from the upright sections and thenthebottom 12 is completed by-a substantiallythick layer of asphalt orother waterproofing material. InF 1, the reenforced fibrous layerszmay be supposed-itoextend from the upright sections 10 tothe points 30, and the portionwof the bottom between the points 30 may be composed of asphalt or other Waterproofing material.

In building up the lining c shownin Fig; 1, itispreferred .to proceed as follows: A layer of. hotasphalt is applied to. the inner surface o-fthe insulating layer 23 to the top surface thereof and to the Wall a. above the said insulating layer. This layer of hot asphalt has applied to it strips 31 of felt with their edges abutting as shown in Fig. .to form the felt layer 13 of Fig. 2. The outer surface of the layer 13 is then coated with a layer 18 of hot asphalt, and on this asphalt layen strips 32-. of felt are laid to plied in the same manner as the strips of the layers 13 V and 14. After the last felt layer 16 has been laid and the hot asphalt layer 18 applied to it, the upright section 10 is clamped to the upright Wallfof the tank above the insula-ting'layer and conse qu'ently above the level-of the brine when the tank is filled With the latter, with the result that the upright section of the lining is hung from above thelevel of the liquid .in the tank, is not pierced by fastening device's below the level of the liquid in the tank, and is relieved from stretching strains by the :reen'for cementwhich takes the strain off of th'e'fi'bt'ous layers, consequently, the tank isprovided- With a durable, inexpensive. and

highly efficient Waterproofing. lining The lining -is llGYGlIlLSllOWD as; applied to a.

tank having an interiorlayer=23 .of heatginsulating material, but it is not desired. to

limit the invention: in this respect as in some cases-the insulating'layer 28 may ,beomitted.

So also, the reenforcing member isshovvn as 8..171136 mesh but'it 'is not desired to limit the invention to this particular form of reene forcing member.

Furthermore, it may be preferred tose cure the lining to the Wall-of the-tank by the clamping bar,- but it is not desired to limitthe invention in this respect.

When the heat insulating layer23 isl'emzployed, it may. bezmateriallyreduced in thickness inasmuch as the Waterproof lining possesses heat insulating value, andas-a result the capacityof theitankmay be increased Without diminishing the eiliciencyi thereof, and a material saving in cost thus effected.

From the above descriptiomit Willbeaseen that the IGQDIEOICQCLJVMZBIPIOOT lining e'n-' ables refrigerating tanks andespecially tanks ot=large=size'andacapacity-to be made absolutely,waterpnoofl: of long-life andwat a:materially re'ducedcost... F urthermore, if

any'leaks should occur in the course of time, the lining can-be quickly and easily repaired Without removing, it from the tank.

l have specifically described the invention as embodied in a refrigerating tank, but it is not desired to limit the invention in this respect, as it is equally' applicable to tanks or vessels employed for other purposes, as, for instance, electrolytic, leaching and other liquid holding tanks or vessels.

Claims:

1. The combination with a tank or vessel of the character described having walls of material height, of a waterproo'red lining for said tank or vessel having upright sections composed of metallically reenforced waterprooi'ed fibrous material adhesively aliixed to said walls, devices for clamping said upright sections to said walls near the upper ends of the latter, means for securing said clamping devices to said Walls and for engaging the metallic reenforcement of the lining to support the latter at its upper end and relieve the fibrous material from weight and strain and permit theportionor" the lining below the level of the liquid in the tanl to be free from punctures.

2. The combination with a tank or vessel of the character describedhaving walls of material height, of a waterproofed lining adhesively afiix'ed to said walls and composed of a plurality of layers of fibrous material and a layer of ire-enforcing material between said fibrous layers, said-fibrous layers being composed of abutting strips, with the strips or" one layer arranged to cover the joints formed by the strips of another layer, means for clamping the upper ends of the lining to said walls, and devices for securing said clamping means to said walls and for engaging said re-enforeing layer for the purpose specified.

3. The combination with a tank or vessel of the character described having walls or" material height, of a layer of heat-insulating material on the inner side of said walls and terminating below the upper ends thereof, a lining of re-ent'orced waterproofed fibrous material adhesively affixed to said heat-insulatin layer and to the walls of the tank above sai heat-insulating layer, devices for clamping the portion of the lining above the heat-insulating layer to said walls, and means for securing said clamping devices to said walls and for engaging the re-enforcement of said lining to sustain the Weight of the latter'and permit the portion of the lining below the liquid level in the tank to be free from punctures.

4. The combination with'a tank or vessel of the character described having walls of material height, of a lining of waterproo'fed fibrous material adhesively affixed to said walls and "provided with a ire-enforcement,

and devices afiiXed to the inner surfaces of said walls near their upper ends and engaging the re-enforcement ofsald linlng to support theweight of the latter for the purpose specified. a

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification. I

DANA F RNA'L 

